


Ghost

by Kenyastarflight



Series: Glory's Tales [9]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Possession, Starscream is a dick of course, Starscream's Ghost, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23864092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenyastarflight/pseuds/Kenyastarflight
Summary: Some mechs refuse to stay dead... and Glory discovers the hard way that Starscream's not going to let a little thing like death get in his way.  Originally written and posted to DeviantArt in 2015.
Series: Glory's Tales [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717957
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> I never addressed in "Glory and Honor" just what might happen if Glory encountered Starscream's Ghost. And given that so many of the most important mechs in Glory's life are dead, I imagine such an encounter might stir all sorts of possibilities in her CPU. So this fic is a little attempt to address that.
> 
> This story takes place during the events of "Glory and Honor," between Chapters 9 and 10 – after Glory’s upgrade to her Seeker form, but before she begins plotting to overthrow Galvatron. It’s recommended that you at least read Glory and Honor before reading this fic.
> 
> Song lyrics belong to Luis Dubuc and his music project Mystery Skulls.

_‘Cause the world might do me in  
It’s all right, ‘cause I’m with friends  
‘Cause I’m giving up again  
It doesn’t matter_  
  
On a distant blue world that these mechanisms had once reluctantly called home, it was All Hallows’ Eve, a night of supernatural events and ghostly celebrations. To the Decepticon Seekers, it was just another day on the dead world they had inherited in the wake of the war. All the days seemed to blend together anyhow, and singling one particular day out for any kind of celebration seemed rather pointless when there was little for the Decepticons as a whole to celebrate anymore.  
  
It was Thrust who finally angled in for a landing on a plateau with a muttered “frag this,” unfolding to robot mode and touching down with a grace his ungainly mech form didn’t seem capable of. Dirge followed close behind, then Ramjet, each of them transforming and landing as lightly as a thirty-foot robot could manage. Glory was the last – as boring as patrol was, she wanted to enjoy a few more minutes in the air while she could, as even these useless checks of their territory were a welcome respite from the cramped quarters of the Chaar base.   
  
Finally, though, she swooped down to join the others, and transformed to touch down as the others settled in on the edge of the plateau, looking over the barren gray landscape. She sat down just a little apart from the other three – despite being one of the last few Seekers among Galvatron’s troops, she never felt entirely welcome among Thrust’s trine. They were their own tight-knit group, much as her uncle’s trine had been before Starscream’s ego had driven them apart, and while they allowed her to join in their conversations sometimes she knew she would forever be an outsider to them.  
  
“Place is boring,” Ramjet grumbled, throwing a rock as far as he could. “Haven’t had a lick of excitement since all that fuss with Cyclonus getting possessed.”  
  
“Excitement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Dirge remarked in his low, gloomy voice. “At least boring means less of a chance of being violently and painfully killed.”  
  
“What’s the fun of being alive if you don’t get some kinda thrill?” Ramjet pointed out. “Slag, I miss the days when Megatron was in charge. At least we got to go pound Autobots and harass the humans and mess around some, and we actually won battles now and then. Here we just sit on our afts and occasionally get them handed to us by Rodimus and his troops.”  
  
“Or by Starscream,” Thrust added. “Slag, who’da thought he’d still be a pain in our thrusters even when he’s dead?”  
  
Glory leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. “I wonder… no, it’s stupid.”  
  
“Wonder what?” demanded Dirge, scowling at her. “Don’t pique our curiosity and then leave us hanging.”  
  
She opened her mouth to answer but hesitated. What she wanted to say had been gnawing at her processor ever since Starscream’s ghost had caused them trouble months ago, but she was reluctant to share it with anyone. It was little more than a fantasy, and she knew she already had a reputation as an immature, overly idealistic femme among the Decepticons. She had no desire to further that image.  
  
And yet… was there anyone else who had wondered the same? Surely she couldn’t be the only one…  
  
“Starscream came back,” she said at last. “As a rogue spark, yes, but he returned from the Well of All Sparks. Do any of you ever wonder if he wasn’t the only one? If… if other mechs killed in the war might live on? Even as ghosts?”  
  
Thrust snorted. “Doubt it. Starscream’s probably still hanging around only because the Allspark didn’t want him and kicked him out. Don’t blame it either.”  
  
“If every unpleasant mechanism who died in the war lived on as a rogue spark, Cybertron would be lousy with ghosts,” Dirge told him.  
  
“Still, if there’s one, there’s bound to be more, right?” she insisted.  
  
Thrust narrowed his optics. “What’re you getting at, kid?”  
  
She looked away. “Nothing… just wondering is all.”  
  
He snorted again. “Kid, dead is dead. Sparks just don’t come back after they’re snuffed – and Starscream’s just a weird, irritating exception to the rule. Hoping for Megatron or Skywarp or even Thundercracker to come back is just setting yourself up for disappointment.”  
  
She had expected that response, but hearing it still stung. She looked away from the rust-colored Seeker, her gaze settling on the horizon. Despite so much happening to her since her uncle’s death, there was still a raw ache in her spark whenever she thought of him. Some part of her still hadn’t entirely healed from the loss, and she doubted that wound would ever fully close.  
  
And when some unlikely event hinted that there was a possibility that her uncle could live on in some form, even as a wayward spark that had wandered far from the Allspark… she just couldn’t let that go. It was a slim hope, but one she clung to all the same.  
  
“If any mech comes back from the dead besides Starscream, it’d probably be Skywarp,” Ramjet pointed out. “Slag, he’d think it’s hilarious to come back and haunt the scrap out of us. Maybe he couldn’t push us down a flight of stairs or somethin’, but it’d be like him to pop out of a wall or move datapads around to mess with us.”  
  
“Didn’t he do that on a regular basis when he was alive?” asked Dirge, and something in his voice sounded a little less depressed. Glory wondered if Dirge and Skywarp had been friends at all before the black Seeker’s passing, and if Dirge didn’t still think fondly of him…  
  
“Enough yappin’ about ghosts already,” Thrust ordered. “Let’s get back to base before Cyclonus sends those aft-ugly Sweeps out after us. Primus, and I thought the Predacons had been whipped with the ugly stick…”  
  
Glory sighed, disappointed at the conversation being cut off so early, but she reverted to her F-14 mode and trailed after Thrust and his trine as they flew back to base. She made a mental note to corner Dirge later and talk to him, though. Skywarp hadn’t been quite as dear to her as Thundercracker, but she missed him as well, and anyone with fond memories to share of him would be a welcome conversation partner.

* * *

  
 _And I’m feeling like a ghost  
And it’s what I hate the most  
‘Cause I’m giving up again  
And this time…_  
  
They arrived at a base in chaos. Mechs had taken up defensive positions behind boulders and piles of rubble, guns out and eyes fixed skyward. The sky flashed and smoked with a heated firefight, and down below Galvatron himself stood perched on the roof of the base, bellowing obscenities and screeching orders.  
  
“Shoot him down! Shoot the traitor down! But leave Cyclonus unharmed! Put so much as a dent in his chassis and I’ll rip you scraplets limb from limb!”  
  
“What the frag…” began Dirge, then yelped as a shard of violet energy streaked past, almost scorching his wing. “Watch it!”  
  
“Hold your blasted fire!” Thrust roared. “It’s just us! What the frag is going on?”  
  
“Autobots!” Ramjet cackled. “What else would it be? Finally, some excitement…”  
  
Glory banked to avoid another blast of gunfire. “It’s not Autobots! There’s not a single Autobot here, either on the ground or in the sky!”  
  
“It’s gotta be Autobots!” Ramjet retorted. “Can’t be anything else!”  
  
“No, she’s correct,” Dirge pointed out. “Look in the sky.”  
  
Up ahead, a cluster of Sweeps were engaged in a vicious dogfight, and even as Glory watched one took a blast straight to the bow and went down in a steep dive. At first she thought the entire lot of them had gone mad and were fighting each other… until a familiar lavender form burst from the center of the group, spiraling higher and trailed by a hail of laser fire. Cyclonus twisted and rolled, executing wild maneuvers she’d never seen him pull before.  
  
“Look out!” Thrust bellowed, and all four Seekers scattered as Cyclonus tore through the air where they had hovered moments before. As he whipped past Glory she caught a wickedly gleeful cackle... one that sounded like it came from Cyclonus’ vocalizer but seemed far more befitting of another mechanism entirely…  
  
 _Soundwave!_ Wherever the communications officer was, she hoped he wasn’t busy… and perhaps he could confirm – or, hopefully, deny – her worst suspicions. _What’s going on?  
  
Cyclonus: acting erratically.  
  
Well, duh. Any idea why? You’re a telepath, can’t you figure it out?  
  
Analysis of Cyclonus’ CPU state: complete. Conclusion: possession. Identity of possessor: Starscream._  
  
Her spark plummeted to her fuel tanks. She’d suspected as much – only a Seeker of the highest caliber could have pulled off some of those maneuvers, and only Starscream had a maniacal cackle like that. But she’d hoped she had guessed wrong.   
  
“Destroy Starscream!” Galvatron shrieked. “I want him dead once and for all! But leave my lieutenant unharmed!”  
  
“How’re we supposed to manage that?” Ramjet demanded. “It took shootin’ Cyc through the chest to get rid of him LAST time!”  
  
“I don’t know if he can even be destroyed,” Glory pointed out. “He’s a ghost, not a living mechanism with a corporeal body. He just surfs from one body to the next.”  
  
Dirge hummed thoughtfully at that. “I believe I saw a human horror film with that premise once… shame I can’t remember the name, or how they even defeated the villain…”  
  
“Shut up about human movies!” Thrust snapped. “Go after him!”  
  
“Are you crazy?” Ramjet retorted. “Cyclonus is Galvatron’s dog; we kill him and it’s our neck struts on the line!”  
  
“Then don’t kill him, you idiots!” Thrust ordered. “Herd ‘im back toward the Sweeps and fake like you’re gonna off him! With any luck that’ll force him to jump into one of the Sweeps, then we can blow ‘im up without it coming back to bite us!”  
  
Had Glory still been in her primary mode, she would have rebooted her optics in surprise. She hadn’t realized Thrust was that good at strategic thought. Then again, he was commander of his trine for a reason, she supposed.  
  
“Claw formation!” Thrust ordered. “Pen him in and get him close to Scourge’s pack!”  
  
The four Seekers soared higher, streaking after the possessed jet. Starscream/Cyclonus swerved to one side in an effort to break away, but Ramjet surged forward to cut off his escape route. Together they hemmed him in from four sides, closing in tighter until there was no way he could rise, dive, or veer to either side without risking a collision. So far, so good… though Glory wondered if perhaps this hadn’t been a little TOO easy…  
  
Another wild cackle, and Starscream/Cyclonus suddenly twisted to the right… straight toward Glory. She veered away, but not fast enough – the two smashed into each other and plummeted toward the ground. She fought to reactivate her antigravs to avoid a crash, but the violet jet transformed and tackled her at that moment, and without thinking she punched and kicked at him in an effort to break free.   
  
The impact wasn’t as damaging as she feared it would be… but it was still enough to stun her senseless for a few seconds.  
  


* * *

  
  
 _This time I might just disappear  
Ooh-ooh-ooh  
This time I might just disappear_  
  
When her scrambled senses finally rebooted and reorganized themselves, Glory found herself sprawled out on her back, Starscream/Cyclonus atop her and pinning her down. A quick check of her damage readout showed some misalignment of her internal components from the crash, but nothing life-threatening or crippling. She would probably last until Hook could see her… if Starscream didn’t offline her first.  
  
With a snarl she gathered herself to try and throw him off… only for Galvatron’s lackey to shake his head and glare down at her. That wasn’t Starscream’s haughty and arrogant sneer, but Cyclonus’ expression of cold disdain.  
  
“Seeker, report,” he barked. “What happened here?”  
  
“You were possessed,” she replied, forcing herself to keep her own disgust toward Cyclonus hidden from her voice and faceplate. “We were trying to get you under control and get Starscream out of you when you hit me.” She shoved at his chest. “Please get off of me.”  
  
He rolled away and stood, leaving her to pick herself up. “Foolish Seeker… why do I get the feeling you’ll be the death of me someday?”  
  
“I’m not a traitor, sir,” she retorted.   
  
Thrust touched down just behind her, scowling. “Well? What happened? Which one of you’s Starscream?”  
  
Cyclonus gave him a cold glare.  
  
“Okay, not you… Starscream, you in there?” He waved his hand in Glory’s face.  
  
“You’re a dork, Thrust.”  
  
“Okay, you’re not Starscream either. He’d have picked something a lot more insulting than ‘dork.’” Thrust turned to the rest of his trine. “Go check the Sweeps! Blast any of them who’re acting suspicious or flying fancier than normal! At this point we’re just gonna shoot first and ask questions later!”  
  
Cyclonus nodded. “For once you’re thinking with some modicum of logic, Thrust. The rest of the Decepticons will remain on high alert. We’ll find Starscream, and destroy him once and for all.” He turned to Glory. “Get to the repair bay, then join Thrust’s trine when Hook clears you to fly again.”  
  
“Yes sir.” She saluted briskly, then turned to go. She wasn’t fooled by Cyclonus’ apparent concern – he didn’t care if she functioned or deactivated. He only wanted one more able chassis up in the sky hunting for Starscream.  
  
Once she had ducked into the base and out of Cyclonus’ line of sight, she leaned against a wall and gave a deep sigh. Of all the mechs who could have returned from the Well of All Sparks, why did it have to be Starscream? Had it been her uncle, she would have been ecstatic – and surely they could have found a way to keep him around permanently, even if it meant building an entirely new body for his spark to possess. Skywarp, too, would have been more than welcome – he was family, in a way, and a body-hopping poltergeist would have been easier to live with had he been mischievous instead of malicious. Even Megatron returning from the dead would have been a better option… and she had a feeling the Decepticons as a whole would have agreed. It might not make things return to normal for them, but at least Megatron would have been able to take charge again, and bring new hope and a brighter future.  
  
But no… of all the mechs who could have returned from the Well of All Sparks, it had to be Starscream. She closed her fist and punched the wall in frustration before continuing on to the medbay. She had never liked the treacherous Air Commander, not even as a sparkling – and seeing as he’d made it no secret that he regarded her as a useless pest, there was no love lost between them. But her dislike toward him had only deepened after his death and her upgrade to her adult form. For only then had she learned of the depth of his treachery, his narcissism and greed…  
  
And the fact that, according to Astrotrain, he had ordered the dead and gravely injured among the Decepticons to be ejected into space after the Battle of Autobot City. Including her uncle. She had never gotten to say a proper goodbye, and she would never forgive him for that.  
  
With another sigh she turned a corner, head lowered as she made her way toward Hook’s domain. It could have been worse, she supposed. As bad as Starscream literally coming back to haunt them was, at least it wasn’t Optimus Prime…  
  
Icy claws seemed to clutch her spark in a death grip at that moment. A horrible chill swept through her neural net, and every joint and servo in her body locked up at once. Panic thudded in her fuel pump as she struggled to move, to work her fans, to kick her internal thermostat up a notch to shake off the cold… anything. But her body refused to respond to her commands.  
  
A sly, raspy voice slid through her CPU at that moment, as if the speaker had leaned in close to whisper into her audial – _Hello, little Glory… miss me?  
  
_

* * *

 _  
  
Try and hear me, then I’m done  
‘Cause I might just say this once  
Seen this played out in my dream  
It doesn’t matter_  
  
Glory fought back her panic and managed to work her vocalizer – the one part of her that Starscream hadn’t seen fit to hijack yet. “Get out of my body!”  
  
A dark chuckle was her response. _Why should I? True, a femme’s chassis isn’t precisely ideal for this situation, but at the moment I’ll take a Seeker’s body over an ugly Sweep or that ridiculous Cyclonus. Hmmm… I’d almost forgotten how good it felt to have proper wings again. I shall have to take this body flying very soon, once I’ve done what I’ve come here to do._  
  
“Get out!” she growled. “I’m not your puppet!”  
  
 _Oh, you silly sparkling… when are you going to accept that you have no choice?_ The ice in her spark had flooded into her torso and limbs by now, and she would have shivered had she had the ability. _You are a tool, little Glory. You always have been, and you always will be. Such is the way of the weak in body and spirit. You may have seen an upgrade to your chassis, but your CPU still clings to silly, childish things. Things like honor, love, and altruism… things that might be worth a bent shanix to the Autobots but are useless to your own kind._  
  
“Shut up, Starscream.” She tried to raise her voice, hoping Hook or another Constructicon would overhear her and come to her aid, but Starscream clamped down on her vocalizer at that moment, and the words came out a dry squeak.  
  
 _Come now, dear, it could be worse._ His presence seemed to be sliding over hers, like a damp blanket wrapping around her body. _I am not an unreasonable spark. Cooperate, and you’ll have your body back at the end of all this. And once I have regained my position as leader of the Decepticons, I can reward you most handsomely._  
  
She struggled to fight him off, to resist, but her chassis refused to obey. With agonizing slowness she turned around, setting one foot in front of the other, walking away from repair bay and toward…  
  
 _No!_ She threw all her energy into resisting, in halting her body in its tracks before it could reach Galvatron’s throne room. _You can’t do this!_  
  
A cold sneer was her answer, and the icy grip tightened on her spark. _You honestly can’t WANT Galvatron as your leader. Unless your loyalty is as fickle as Razorclaw’s, and you’ll call any mech leader so long as he’s strong enough…  
  
I’m not going to let you use my body as a murder weapon!  
  
Whether or not you LET me, you have no choice,_ Starscream retorted. _It will happen one way or another, little Glory… but you can choose to make it easier on yourself. Let this happen, and it will work to your advantage. But resist me, and it’s you who will face punishment for assassinating your not-so-glorious leader._  
  
She continued to fight with all her strength, battering at the cold grip on her spark and body. It was no use – step by step she continued on, every footfall bringing her closer to Starscream’s target. No, she had no love for Galvatron… but neither was she going to let herself be a tool, a pawn to further Starscream’s ascent to the throne. Especially not when he had betrayed her uncle several times, and ultimately cost her the chance to say goodbye…  
  
 _Oh, don’t take THAT so personally,_ Starscream sneered, picking up on her thoughts. _Your uncle was dying; not even Hook could have saved him at that point. He and the others were dead weight, so much extra mass that would have rendered it impossible for the survivors to make it back to Cybertron. I know you wouldn’t understand, little sparkling, but being an adult means making difficult choices. And the lives of the survivors took precedence over any sentimental things you wanted to say to Thundercracker’s cold, gray chassis._  
  
She fumed silently, and even his presence couldn’t stop optic cleanser from trickling down her faceplates. _You’re a monster.  
  
It takes a monster to rule the galaxy with any effectiveness,_ Starscream retorted. _Something Megatron could have taught you if he’d just upgraded you when we first planned instead of caving in to Thundercracker’s soft-sparked pleas. Now relax already. This will go much easier if you don’t fight me._  
  
Her response was an explicit suggestion that he go perform a crude and anatomically impossible act on himself. It must have leaked from her vocalizer – Motormaster passed by at that moment, and he paused to stare at her as she walked past.  
  
 _Oh my… innocent little Glory isn’t so innocent anymore, is she? Whatever would your uncle say? Now be quiet and stop fighting me. It’s almost over._  
  
She wasn’t about to take advice from the mech who’d contributed to her uncle’s death – and worse, admitted it with as close to a straight face as a ghost could manage. She fought like a wild thing, fought with every scrap of energy she possessed, until she was too weak to fight anymore. But she might as well have been trying to use her fists to take down a city-bot. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake off Starscream’s iron grip, couldn’t slow their progress a bit…  
  
 _See? It’s pointless to resist, little Glory. Just rest awhile, while I take care of the unpleasant task. Then you can go about your busi- what? What? YOU!_  
  
Before Glory could do more than start at Starscream’s shriek, something else flooded her chassis – a presence that didn’t chill, but seemed to blaze with righteous anger. It filled her with a searing heat, shattering the cold claws around her spark, throwing off the icy shroud that hung over her neural net. Her body couldn’t contain it and Starscream’s presence at the same time, and finally the former Air Commander retreated with an angry hiss, leaving her staggering.  
  
A new voice sounded in her audials – not the haughty rasp of Starscream, but a deep voice that had always been rich with humor and an upbeat attitude in life… but now quivered in rage. _Dude… not cool, Starscream. Not cool.  
  
_

* * *

 _  
  
Time for givin’ up the ghost  
F**k, it’s you I hate the most  
And there is no guarantee  
It doesn’t matter_  
  
Before Glory could react to this new intruder in her mind, Motormaster jerked and convulsed, optics flashing and face contorted in a pained grimace. His fight lasted mere seconds, however, and soon he straightened and turned to face Glory, an all-too-familiar sneer on his lip plates.  
  
“You should have known better than to interfere, Skywarp.”  
  
The presence in Glory’s mind pulsed softly. _Got permission to borrow your body for a sec, kid?_  
  
She opened and shut her mouth a few times before she could answer, the shock at hearing that voice again driving all coherent thought from her CPU. _Wha-  
  
Yes or no, kid. Sorry, don’t have a lot of time for chit-chat right now._  
  
There was so much she wanted to say at that moment, so much she wanted to tell Skywarp and so much she wanted to hear from him. But the only thing she could manage was a hesitant _Y-yes…  
  
Good enough._ And heat enfolded her, taking control of her limbs as surely as Starscream had. Her entire body shook as Skywarp situated himself within her chassis, then she straightened and looked Starscream/Motormaster square in the optic.  
  
“Seriously, Screamer, I could understand trying for a hostile takeover.” The voice was hers, but the words were Skywarp’s. “It’s kinda your schtick by now. But taking over Glory to do it? That’s freaking low, man.”  
  
“Says the mech possessing her right now,” Starscream/Motormaster retorted.  
  
“Hey, at least I asked permission instead of just hijacking her chassis and telling her to suck it up.” Skywarp quirked her mouth up in a half-grin. “Give it up, Starscream. Let Motormaster go and let’s head back to the Allspark together.”  
  
Starscream/Motormaster snarled and scraped one foot along the floor, like a bull pawing the ground before a charge. “Never!”  
  
“Come on, Screamer, there’s rules!” Skywarp insisted. “Sparks aren’t supposed to leave the Well once they get there! Sure, we can sometimes send messages from beyond, but other than that, taking off for a jaunt through the physical universe is a big no-no.”  
  
“That’s rich, coming from you!” Starscream/Motormaster cackled. “This isn’t YOUR first sojourn into the universe of the living!”  
  
“Well, yeah, you got me there,” Skywarp admitted. “Come on, it’s too much fun to come out and do a little haunting sometimes. But at least I’m careful.” He rested Glory’s hands on her hips. “It’s not like it’s a rule Primus puts in place to ruin our afterlives or something. It’s a warning. The longer a spark’s gone from the Allspark, the harder it is to return. And if you’re gone too long… well, you screw your chances of going back.”  
  
“Who says I WANT to go back?!” came the roared retort. “Being one with the Allspark is a tedious existence anyhow! I have goals and ambitions here, and I’m not about to let a little thing like death stand in my way!” Motormaster’s chassis tensed, preparing to spring. “So touching to see you concerned for my welfare, though. For that I’ll make the death of your current chassis quick.”   
  
_Hoslag!_ Skywarp cursed internally, throwing Glory’s body to the side to avoid the Stunticon leader’s bulk. _Phew! You got good reflexes, kid. Come on… we gotta get Starscream kicked outta there before he does something stupid, like go form Menasor and use him to stomp the base flat.  
  
Right!_ Glory let Skywarp take full control of her chassis, receding to the back of her own CPU as Skywarp activated her antigravs and sent her flying after the fleeing Stunticon. _The rest of his team is outside, in a canyon just beyond the brig. We have to cut him off before he can reach them.  
  
Ten-four, kid. Once we catch up to him, I’ll try to get a good grip on him. Then brace yourself for a transfer of power, all right?  
  
All right._  
  
Motormaster could hit insanely high speeds in his truck mode… but even he was no match for a Seeker. By the time the canyon was in his sights, Glory and Skywarp had caught up to him. Skywarp brought her down atop his cab, clinging on for all they were worth.  
  
 _NOW!_  
  
The return to her own chassis was dizzying, and she barely had time to recover before Starscream/Motormaster transformed and rolled, trying to crush her underneath his bulk. She managed to let go and spring aside, then rushed back in to fling her arms around his neck, struggling to wrestle him to the ground. She had never managed to beat him in a wrestling match despite all her lessons under his watch… but then, she had never imagined she would have to best him for any reason. Now she could only hope she could hold on long enough for Skywarp to do what had to be done.  
  
“Get… off!” Starscream/Motormaster wrenched at her arms, fighting her grip. “Both of you get off this INSTANT!”  
  
 _Give it up, Starscream,_ Skywarp ordered. _It’s a lost cause. Then again, you were always the stubborn one of us three, huh? Never knew when to cut your losses._ He no longer sounded enraged… instead, he seemed wistful, almost sad.   
  
“Let go this instant! Let-“ The chassis beneath Glory convulsed, and Motormaster gurgled as if about to purge his tanks. “Let… what the… slaggit, leggo already!”  
  
That last sounded far more like Motormaster than Starscream, but Glory wasn’t about to take any chances. “Motormaster, is that you?”  
  
“No, it’s Solus Prime, leggo already, fraggit!” He stood, shaking her off like a bothersome insect. “The slag happened anyhow?”  
  
“You were… you were possessed. By Starscream.”   
  
Motormaster growled and spat off to the side. “Ugh… Primus dammit, why can’t that mech just stay dead already?”  
  
“What are you standing around for?” Galvatron roared, stomping up at that moment. “I want Starscream found and destroyed! Get to work, you fools!”  
  
“How the slag are we supposed to kill a ghost anyhow?” Motormaster grumbled.  
  
“I don’t want your stupid questions!” Galvatron snarled.  
  
Glory decided to leave those two to work out their differences and walked away. They were still bellowing at each other at the tops of their vocalizers as she entered the base again, this time hoping to make it back to the repair bay without interruptions.   
  


* * *

  
  
_This time I might just disappear  
Ooh-ooh-ooh  
This time I might just disappear_  
  
A low-energy warning pinged in the corner of Glory’s HUD, joining the list of minor damages incurred from her earlier crash. She made a note to bring that up to Hook as she walked, wincing as her internal damages began sending dull aches through her chassis. Crashing into another mech in midair as well as the ground, earning the ire of Cyclonus, being possessed by Starscream, and probably bound to annoy Hook as soon as she entered his medbay… all in all it had not been a good day.  
  
 _Oh nice, how do you think that makes me feel?_  
  
She froze in her tracks, expecting to feel heat or cold seizing her spark. But all she got was a soft chuckle.  
  
 _Nah, I’m not gonna possess you again, kid. Just saying a quick goodbye before I head back to the Allspark with the Screamer. Dunno when I’ll see you again, after all._  
  
“You’re taking him back?” she asked, keeping her voice low enough to be drowned out by her fans.  
  
 _Mm-hmm. What I told him earlier wasn’t a bluff – you’re really not supposed to leave the Well once you get in. As it is… it might be too late for him to go back. But it can’t hurt to try, huh?_  
  
“Skywarp… I miss you. So much. Please… don’t go. If you can stay here…”  
  
 _Aw kid… I’m sorry. But I’m pushing things as it is. I have to go back. But chin up, all right? There’s a place for you in the Well of All Sparks once you’ve lived your life to the fullest. And hey… keep an optic out, okay? Next time stuff starts moving around or disappearing without an explanation, it just might be Yours Truly._  
  
She had to laugh, even as fluid streaked her faceplate. “What about Uncle T? Will he ever… will he…”  
  
 _I dunno, kid… traveling outside the Allspark really isn’t TC's style. But I’ll pass the message along that you miss him, all right? Maybe he’ll take the hint and pay you a visit. Until then… just sit tight, all right? Things’ll work out. Uncle Skywarp’s promise._  
  
She reached out as if hoping to touch him one last time. “Thank you. Until… until all are one, I suppose.”  
  
 _Yeah… until all are one._  
  
She waited a long moment, silent, hoping for a few more words… but none came. Skywarp was gone, back to the Well of All Sparks. She was alone again.  
  
Glory lowered her hand and continued on to the repair bay. Alone, perhaps… but not forgotten, and not cut off from all possible contact with those she loved. And that knowledge helped soothe the ache in her spark.  
  
 _This time I might just disappear  
Ooh-ooh-ooh  
This time I might just disappear…_


End file.
